Page 232 of The Robin on the Oak Throne

“It’s sacred,” Niamh repeated. She began to twine the golden thread around their wrists.

“You might not be in my head,” Kierse said flatly, “but you sure as hell are manipulating the rest of them.”

“This is a handfasting,” Niamh continued as if she hadn’t heard Kierse at all. “It’s a traditional Celtic wedding ceremony but is used symbolically in this ceremony to express the union of two souls.”

“Please,” she pleaded with Lorcan. “Don’t do this.”

“It’ll be better when it’s over.”

The Druids began to chant in an ancient language. She remembered the small lesson Lorcan had given her on Druidic spells—self, spirit, and sacrifice. The self was inherent magic of which Lorcan was at the peak of his. Spirit was time, place, and the cosmos of which today was the summer solstice. And sacrifice was what was given to power the spell. Here, it was the chanting and the ribbon tying them together and the promise of a queen to the Oak Throne.

Wind whipped inside the building like they were outside on the day of a hurricane. Her hair flew around her face, cutting into her eyes and obscuring her vision. Lorcan stoodfirm against the squall. The mountain in the storm. Magic crawled up their bodies, a swirl of gold and blue glittering in the dim lighting. It started at their joined hands and stretched outward toward her chest. The most beautiful sight she’d ever seen. And the most terrifying.

The chanting increased in volume. Niamh’s words as she read off the spell were lost to the volume of the wind. Still it continued, eating up inch after inch of her wrist and then her arm and up to her shoulder. She panicked as it reached for her. She tugged against the bindings, but all it did was tighten the string, pull them closer together. Still, the magic embraced her body like an old lover. Warm and inviting. It wanted to lull her into submission. And it felt good.

It would be so easy to give up. To let him win. Because there was that piece inside her that said this was what she was made for.

The last wisp.

The most powerful Druid.

They were destined. And once they were bound together, the world would be set right again.

Except when she looked up into blue eyes, she wished for gray. When she saw his dark brown hair, she was missing the midnight blue. When she saw his navy suit, she wanted the black. She wanted the darkness. She wanted Graves.

“Stop,” she begged.

A tear tracked down her cheek as she yanked on her wrist, pushing against his shoulder with her other hand to try to get away from him. Still it didn’t move. The magic only crept closer, crawling across her chest and down her torso. As if she were being dipped in glowing light.

“Please, Lorcan, put a stop to this.” She tugged somemore. “I don’t want this. I don’t want to be bound to anyone. You can’t just take my autonomy.”

“It’s too late,” Lorcan said. “The ceremony has already begun.”

“We can undo it. We can undo it together.”

“What would you do if we did? Run straight back to the problem? No. I’m not going to let you get yourself killed.”

“He’s not going to kill me,” Kierse argued. “But this isworse. Can’t you see that?”

“How could this be worse than what he did?”

“You’re taking away my choice!” she screamed at him.

“He was stealing your mind,” Lorcan roared back. “He was going to push too far and he was going to kill you. Do you want to be dead? Is that better than being with me?”

“This has nothing to do with you and everything to do with your fucked-up power. Your vengeance against him. You don’t wantme. You want towin.”

“This isn’t about winning.”

“You don’t even see how far you’ve gone. You act like you’re a good guy. That you’re so far above him. And then you prove time and time again that power is all you want. As long as he doesn’t win, right? As long as you can prove you’re better than him, nothing else matters.”

“You’ve always been determined to see me as the bad guy,” Lorcan said. His eyes narrowed. “Fine. Make me your bad guy. If that saves your life, then so be it.”

And something broke inside of her at those words.

The ceremony had already begun. Her powers were depleted, and his were infinite. There was no way for her to save herself this time. She’d gotten lucky time and time again. She’d had the spear against King Louis. She’d phasedto escape Jason. There was no escaping Lorcan. Not when the universe seemed to want their joining. Her approval mattered little.

There was only one way to stop this: she needed help.

---